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Coyote Ugly (film)
Coyote Ugly is a 2000 romantic comedy/drama based on the actual Coyote Ugly Saloon, set in New York City. The film stars Piper Perabo and Adam Garcia. It was directed by David McNally, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Chad Oman and written by Gina Wendkos. Plot Violet Sanford (Piper Perabo) leaves her hometown of South Amboy, New Jersey, her father Bill (John Goodman), and best friend Gloria (Melanie Lynskey) to pursue her dreams of becoming a songwriter in nearby New York City. The pizza shop where she works has a wall covered with the autographs of employees that left, hoping to make it big, and Violet adds hers to the wall. Violet tries unsuccessfully, dozens of times, to get her demo tape noticed by the recording studios. One night, she tries to get herself noticed by a music industry scout. The bartender jokingly points out Kevin O'Donnell (Adam Garcia), making her believe that he is the bar owner. When the joke is discovered, Violet feels that Kevin was making a fool out of her. With only a few dollars left in her pocket after her apartment is robbed, she goes to an all-night diner and notices three girls, Cammie (Izabella Miko), Rachel (Bridget Moynahan), and Zoe (Tyra Banks), flaunting the hundreds of dollars in tips they earned. After inquiring, she finds out that they work at a trendy bar named Coyote Ugly. She finds her way to the bar and convinces the bar owner Lil (Maria Bello) to hire her. Lil explains that she did so because Violet looks like a kindergarten teacher and the average patron "has a toddler in their pants" and that the "kids" will love her. She is reluctantly nicknamed "Jersey". After starting her job, she quickly discovers she must learn the ropes of singing, dancing, and performing wild acts before a rowdy crowd. One night a patron takes a picture of Violet in the middle of a raunchy move and with water pouring on her. When the picture appears in the paper, Violet's father happens to see it and gets angry at her. She continues to pursue her dream, though, and performs at an open mic night at the Bowery Ballroom with the "Coyotes" from the Coyote Ugly saloon, her father, her best friend, and Kevin all there for moral support. The performance goes over very well and she finally lands a deal with a record label. The film concludes back at Coyote Ugly with LeAnn Rimes, as a Coyote, singing Violet's song. Violet joins in as her father and Kevin watch from the audience. Cast Main cast *Piper Perabo as Violet Sanford *Adam Garcia as Kevin O'Donnell *John Goodman as William Sanford *Maria Bello as Lil *Izabella Miko as Cammie *Tyra Banks as Zoe *Bridget Moynahan as Rachel *Melanie Lynskey as Gloria *Del Pentecost as Lou *Michael Weston as Danny *Melody Perkins as New Coyote *Johnny Knoxville as College Guy *Alex Borstein as bidding auction woman (uncredited) *LeAnn Rimes as herself (credited) and the singing voice of Violet (uncredited) Additional credits *The film has a performance by the band The Calling. *Susan Yeagley as bidding auction woman (uncredited) *The band playing at the end of the film is Chalk FarM. *Michael Bay makes a cameo as a photographer. *Kaitlin Olson as bidding auction woman. Title The film was based on an article, "The Muse of the Coyote Ugly Saloon", in GQ by Elizabeth Gilbert, who worked as a bartender in the East Village. The bar which opened in 1993 quickly became a favorite of the Lower East Side hipsters. As mentioned in the movie, the slang term "coyote ugly" refers to the feeling of waking up after a one-night stand, and discovering that your arm is underneath someone who is so physically repulsive that you would gladly chew it off without waking the person just so you can get away without being discovered. Coyotes are known to gnaw off limbs if they are stuck in a trap in order to facilitate escape. Production Kevin Smith, who did an uncredited rewrite of the script, stated that a total of eight writers worked on the script while the Writers Guild of America only gave credit to Gina Wendkos, who wrote the first draft of the script, which, according to Smith, scarcely resembles the final film. Early on, before the producers decided to cast mostly unknown actors for the movie, the lead role of Violet Sanford was offered to pop singer Jessica Simpson, who turned it down. Reception Coyote Ugly was generally panned by critics, who saw it as little more than an excuse to portray "hot, sexy women dancing on a bar in a wet T-shirt contest." Even askmen.com admitted that while "incredibly attractive" women "flaunt that fact" in the film, "that's all there is". AskMen.com's audience rates the film 88/100, however. It currently holds a 22% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 95 reviews. VH1 made a statement about Rimes' appearance in the film stating, "Rimes herself, who is only 17 years old, was sporting leather pants and a skimpy top and in all likelihood, even with a fake ID, would never have been allowed inside any NYC bar." Unrated edition In the summer of 2005, an unrated special edition of the film (the original release was rated PG-13 and the director's cut rated R) was released on DVD. The extended cut adds approximately six minutes to the film's runtime, most of which consists of additional shots of the "coyotes" dancing on the bar and of Violet and Cammie (Izabella Miko) trying on different outfits while shopping. Arguably, the most notable additions are the extension of the sex scene between Violet and Kevin (Piper Perabo used a body double for most of the scene), and the inclusion of an additional scene which shows the "Coyotes" winning a softball game because Cammie distracts the pitcher by stripping. (The special features of the extended cut DVD are identical with those of the previous DVD release.) Box office The film opened at No. 4 at the North American box office making $17.3 million in its opening weekend behind Space Cowboys, Nutty Professor II: The Klumps and Hollow Man. It went on to gross $60.7 million domestically and $53.2 million around the world to a total of $113.9 million worldwide, becoming a box office success. Soundtrack Two soundtracks were released for the film, the first was released on August 1, 2000 three days before the film's theatrical release and the second on January 28, 2003. Reference External Link Category:Films with LeAnn Rimes